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2013: Practical Guide on Democratic Dialogue

This Guide offers a series of criteria, guidelines and tools that allow societal actors to understand better what a democratic dialogue implies as a process, and to undertake successful dialogic initiatives. It has four sections: the first one offers an overview of conflictivity in Latin America, including several visions and opinions from analysts, researchers, and leaders from diverse sectors in the region. The second section presents concepts and basic elements of dialogue, including its definition and guiding principles, and it also elaborates on the roles in a dialogue process and the terms of the facilitator. In the third section, the different stages of a dialogue process are described and explained, from exploration to follow-up, going through design and implementation. And finally, the last section offers a set of methodological tools that can be used during all the phases of a democratic dialogue process.

Democratic Dialogue: a Handbook for Practitioners

The Handbook has been a joint effort of CIDA, International IDEA, OAS and UNDP, receiving valuable input from a wider network of organizations. This Handbook has been designed to reflect current practice in the field of dialogue and to draw on concrete experiences of practitioners in various regions and of various actors involved in these processes. It seeks to consolidate emerging learning – both in terms of the conceptual framework supporting dialogue, and practical experiences in the design, facilitation and assessment of such processes on the ground. It also offers a comprehensive mapping of the process tools that can be used to support dialogue initiatives, thereby expanding the toolbox currently available to practitioners. AVAILABLE IN SPANISH, ENGLISH, FRENCH, and ARABIC (pdf).

Conflict and Peacebuilding in Latin America. Course.

This publication reflects the content of the virtual course conducted jointly by UNDP Colombia, the UNDP Virtual School and the Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster of UNDP Regional Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Course contents are the result of joint work and systematization of existing tools for conflict management and transformation from the perspective of human development.

Offered in late 2013, the virtual course reviews relevant theoretical frameworks and practical skills to identify, prevent and intervene in situations of conflict favoring transformative peacebuilding approaches. It was aimed at practitioners, officials from national, regional and local governments, representatives of academia, the private sector and civil society in general that might require tools and strategies for analysis, prevention and peace building.

In 2001, the UNDP Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean established the Democratic Dialogue Regional Project, and in 2010 it was assigned to the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Area of the Regional Centre of UNDP for Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Panama. This project constitutes an active service instrument to dialogue initiatives promoted by the country offices of Latin America and the Caribbean. It develops, disseminates and applies diverse social technologies to support conflict prevention and management efforts, as well as consensus-building initiatives in the region. It compiles and systematizes experiences, lessons learned and good practices, provides specific technical support and capacity-building to country needs, and establishes partnerships with other regional and world institutions committed to democratic dialogue.